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Livingstone daisy seed is very fine, close to dust, and it germinates on the surface in light. Cover it and most of it will never come up, which accounts for a large share of failed sowings. It also needs warmth to start: 60 to 65F (15 to 18C) is the useful range, and germination then takes one to two weeks. Below about 55F (13C) it simply sits and waits.
Because the seed is so fine, thin sowing is the whole skill. Tip a small quantity into the palm of your hand, take a pinch between finger and thumb, and scatter it across the surface from a few inches up while moving your hand steadily. Mixing the seed with a spoonful of dry silver sand first makes it visible on the surface and spreads it far more evenly than you can manage on its own.
There are two routes: under cover about six weeks before the last frost for the earliest flowers, or direct outdoors once the soil has warmed. Both work. Direct sowing gives slightly later but often tougher plants that never suffer a transplanting check, and in a hot gravelly spot it is the easier of the two.
| Item | Under cover | Direct outdoors |
|---|---|---|
| When | About six weeks before the last frost | After the last frost, soil above 60F (15C) |
| Depth | Surface only, not covered | Surface only, pressed into the grit |
| Temperature | 60 to 65F (15 to 18C) to germinate, then cooler | Whatever the season gives; wait for warmth |
| Time to emerge | One to two weeks | One to three weeks depending on warmth |
| Watering | From below only | Fine spray, or not at all if rain is due |
| Final spacing | One plant per cell, then 6 to 8 in (15 to 20 cm) out | Thin to 6 to 8 in (15 to 20 cm) |
| First flowers | Roughly ten to twelve weeks from sowing | Roughly ten to twelve weeks from sowing |
Sowing under cover
Sowing indoors buys you two or three weeks of flowering at the front of the season, but only if you can give the seedlings strong light afterwards. If your brightest spot is an ordinary windowsill, sow later or sow direct instead.
- Fill with a gritty seed mix Use a free-draining seed-starting mix with about a quarter by volume of fine grit or perlite mixed in. Fill the tray, tap it down and level the surface with a board so the fine seed does not roll into hollows.
- Water before you sow Stand the tray in shallow water until the surface darkens, then drain it fully. Watering after sowing washes dust-fine seed into clumps and into the corners of the tray.
- Scatter thinly on the surface Mix the seed with dry silver sand, then scatter from a few inches above the tray. Do not cover the seed with compost. If you want a surface dressing, use a bare sprinkle of vermiculite through which light still reaches the seed.
- Keep at 60 to 65F (15 to 18C) in good light Put the tray in the brightest place you have at that temperature. Cover with a propagator lid or a clear bag only until the first seedlings show, then remove it to get air moving.
- Move somewhere cool and bright at once As soon as the seedlings are up, drop the temperature to 50 to 60F (10 to 15C) and give them the strongest light available. Warmth after germination is the main cause of stretched, useless seedlings.
Sowing direct into open ground and gravel
Direct sowing suits this plant unusually well, because the places it likes best are exactly the places that are awkward to plant into: gravel, a wall top, the loose stony edge of a bed. Wait until the last frost has passed and the soil is above about 60F (15C), then rake or scratch the surface lightly to make a shallow tilth. Do not dig in compost or manure; the seedlings want lean ground from the start.
Scatter the sand-and-seed mixture thinly across the area rather than in rows, and press it into the surface with the flat of your hand or the back of a rake so it makes contact with the grit but is not buried. Water with a fine spray if the weather is dry, and keep the surface just damp until the seedlings appear, which will take one to three weeks depending on how warm the ground is.
Sowing in a broad drift rather than a line gives the natural carpet effect that suits the plant, and it means the inevitable uneven germination is invisible. If you are sowing into gravel, work the seed into the top half inch (1 cm) of the gravel where a little fine material collects; that is where it will find enough moisture to start.
Thinning, and why it must be brutal
Direct-sown seedlings always come up too thick, and thinning is the single job that determines whether you get flowers or a green mat. Each plant will cover eight to twelve inches (20 to 30 cm) by midsummer, so the final spacing is six to eight inches (15 to 20 cm). At that distance the plants meet and knit together without shading each other's centers.
Thin in two passes. The first pass, once the seedlings have their first true leaves, takes them down to about two inches (5 cm) apart. The second, two or three weeks later once you can see which are strongest, takes them to their final spacing. Pinch or snip the unwanted ones off at ground level rather than pulling, so you do not disturb the roots of the ones you are keeping.
Thinnings can be transplanted while they are still small, though they resent it and will be a week or two behind their undisturbed neighbors. If you want plants elsewhere it is usually easier to make a second small sowing than to move thinnings. Thin on a dry day, and do not water afterwards; the plants left behind establish better slightly dry.
Every year people leave seedlings at two or three inches (5 to 8 cm) apart because they look sparse at that stage. By midsummer that planting is a crowded green cushion with flowers only around its outside edge. Thin harder than feels right.
Saved seed, self-sowing and records
Seed saves easily. Leave some of the last flowers of the season to set, and watch for the small capsules to turn papery. Collect them on a dry day into a paper bag, let them dry for a week somewhere airy, then shake the seed out and store it dry, cool and dark in a labeled envelope. It stays viable for two or three years.
In a hot, gravelly, well-drained position the plant will often self-sow and come up on its own the following season without any help. Those volunteers are frequently the best plants of the year, because they germinate exactly when the ground is right and never suffer a transplant. If you want that, resist the urge to clear and tidy the spot too thoroughly in autumn, and leave the surface loose rather than mulching it.
Note the sowing date, the sowing method, the date the first seedlings showed, and the final spacing you settled on, along with the date of the first flower. Comparing an indoor sowing and a direct sowing made in the same year, in your own conditions, will settle for good which method is worth the effort in your garden.